


What He Left

by Oceanweaver



Category: Hermitcraft RPF
Genre: Angst, Angst and Tragedy, Crying, Gen, Grief/Mourning, Men Crying, Not a perma-death au, Sad, Takes place some time later in season 7, but there is a perma death, if that makes any sense, no beta we die like men, tfc shows up in a later character and he says more then one sentence, xisuma is dead I’m sorry
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-04-23
Updated: 2020-10-17
Packaged: 2021-03-02 01:08:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 4
Words: 4,517
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23796664
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Oceanweaver/pseuds/Oceanweaver
Summary: When Xisuma dies unexpectedly, it’s up to the remaining hermits to stick together to get though this horrible event
Comments: 24
Kudos: 96





	1. And He Fell

**Author's Note:**

> In every fandom I’m in I camp out in the major character death tag desperate for content. Well this fandom happens to have such a lack of fic with the major character death tag and the grief/mourning tag, I took it upon myself to fix it. So welcome to hell I'm almost positive that everyone is very out of character

It was a nice day, the hermits mostly working on their individual projects when it happened, first a notification on their communicators. Most hermits didn’t see the first notification before the alarm and those who did, didn’t think much of it. Until a few seconds later an alarm went off, and the hermits panicked.

Xisuma fell from a high place  
ATTENTION: perma-death has occurred for player: Xisuma, at X1279 Y64 Z-264. All items dropped including perma-death drops.

Mumbo dropped his communicator which teleported back into his back pocket as soon as it hit the ground. He looked around dazed for an unknown amount of time before Iskall landed next to him,  
“Grain, Scar, and Stress are waiting by the tree, I’ll be leading them to the cords,” Iskall pointed to his cybernetic eye. Of course, Mumbo thought, Iskall’s the only one here who can look at chat and cords without a communicator or taking his eyes away from flying.  
“Yeah, let’s go.” He said fumbling with his rockets and then following Iskall who had taken off for his base. Why I’m I thinking about Iskall’s eye right now? He thought again as he absent mindedly swooped down with Iskall.  
As they approached the giant base mumbo realized that Grian was clutching on to Scar, looking dazed and sick. Iskall landed down next to them and mumbo followed suit. Scar motioned over to him and whispered something he couldn’t make out.  
Iskall moved away from the two, nodding. “Alright, Grian can’t fly, so Scar and Grian are going to make their way to the portal closest to the cords through the nether.”  
Stress nodded silently and prepared to take off. Mumbo followed her lead clutching the rockets tighter.  
“We should hurry,” Iskall said before shooting off an absurd amount of rockets to take off, the other two following close behind.  
They made their way to the cords in almost complete silence, beside the wind rushing past their ears.

***

When Keralis read the announcement he stumbled forward and tripped, feeling sick to his stomach. He pushed himself up shakily, and took off on his elytra in the direction of Xisuma’s base. He flew unevenly, breathing shakely. In a few minutes he saw part of one of the towers. Letting himself glide for a minute he pulled up the cords. He followed them and realized that he was the first one there. As he circled around X1279 Z-264 he realized it was a small clearing with part of a building being made. He landed a few blocks away from where Xisuma's stuff was scattered and walked closer to it. He made a pained noise as he realized that these were in fact Xisuma’s things. He stopped breathing at the sight of one object. X’s helmet. He stumbled towards it and picked it up. He and Xisuma had long given up their bee personas but when Keralis picked up the helmet it glitched through the different outfit’s patterns before making a pitiful beep and landing on its original colors.  
“Oh Shishwammy,” he whispered as he ran his fingers along the purple tinted visor before making his way to a patch of soft green grass away from the other items. Sitting down he clutched the helmet and let out the first of many sobs. He didn’t even notice Etho and Beef arrive and started to sort through the items, tears streaming down Beef’s face and darkening Etho’s mask, crying for the admin they had just reconnected with.

***

When False arrived and looked around she found herself surprised. She wasn’t surprised by the people who were loitering about, trying to organize, just standing or sitting dazed, or talking quietly. She was surprised by something else. She knew how the death mechanics worked in this world, she knew that bodies disappeared after death. But this wasn’t just a normal die/respawn situation. The alert had said perma-death, but it also said that items had dropped. So why had she been expecting a body.

***

Cleo was the second to last to arrive besides TFC, her base being furthest away from X’s. The scene she saw when she landed was horrible. There was a small, newly constructed nether portal off to the side and a couple groups spread around the flattened area.  
For the first time in her life she saw all of Sahara and ConCorp standing in a group talking quietly. Scar and Cub doing most of the talking with Iskall while Grian was huddled up against Mumbo who stood quietly with a haunted look in his eyes. Cleo would have been amazed and asked questions or teased them if the circumstances were different.  
In another small area next to the portal  
There were a few chests and shulker boxes with a sign saying, “his stuff”. The entirety of the former nHo stood around the chests sorting, small sobs coming from Bdubs, tears streaked across Beef’s face, parts of Etho’s mask were damp, and Doc kept frantically wiping his one real eye trying desperately not to cry. The nHo’s first full reunion since season 5 she found herself thinking. Not the way it should have gone.

***

Jevin walked over to Joe, who’s turn it was to rummage through the chests, “do know what happened?” Jevin asked. “To- you know, make him fall.”  
Joe rummaged through the chest for another second before pulling out a broken elytra. “Our best guess Is that he was building and fell,” Joe paused again and started looking through the chest again before making a face of realization and pointing to Doc who held onto the admin’s armor. “His boots didn’t have feathers falling, and he must have been up pretty high.” Joe pointed to the half completed tower, staining his neck to see the top. “It could have happened to any one of us.”

***

“We found three items that we think are- were, dropped because of- because of the-“ Ren cringed, and shut his eyes tightly and rubbed them before continuing. “There are three perma death drops.” He said it quickly and then became quiet, staring at the ground breathing heavily.  
Stress took over speaking for him, “His helmet and armor,” she held up 2 fingers and gestured to Keralis who was no longer sobbing but was still holding on to the helmet like it was his life force. “And a published book,” she picked up the book next to her, “It’s titled-“ she stopped for just a moment to let more tears fall from her eyes. “It’s titled: admin powers.” Stress glanced back to Ren. “I read the first few pages and it basically explains how to become an admin in the event of a current admin experiencing- an admin who experienced-“ she was struggling to say what happened like the others. “Perma-death,” she said finally. “It explains how to become an admin if another admin experiences perma death.”


	2. Where We Stay

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> TFC arrives, and everyone mourns.

TFC arrived through the nether just a few minutes after Cleo. As he stepped out, nobody noticed his arrival, all of them too caught up in their own grief. Then Joe noticed him.  
“Tinfoil!” he called out walking over to him. TFC waved awkwardly and walked over to the chests where most of the hermits were standing.  
“I know this is all really confusing and you must have a lot of questions, but right now I need you to listen to me.” TFC said, his voice shaking slightly. “I know I don't really talk to the rest of you all that much but, I’ve been around servers for a while. I’m experienced with perma death.” He looked around at the grieving faces and practically felt his heart break. “I know we can get through this. It’s gonna be hard and it’s gonna take a long time but we are stronger than this. We just have to stay together. I've seen too many good players meet their demise because they isolated themselves after a perma-death.” He put a hand on Mumbo's shoulder, the taller man being the closest to him. “I don’t want that happening to any of you guys.” He looked around again, the place was clear from drops, Scar and Cub packing stuff into shulker boxes and then into an enderchest ready to move the stuff to its next location. “I think we should stay in one person’s base until we- until we get into a better place. Any ideas?”  
Grian mumbled something that the other hermits couldn’t hear, Mumbo leaned in closer to his friend.  
“He said we could stay in his mansion, there’s plenty of rooms and outside there are plenty of places to walk and visit.” Mumbo said straightening back up.  
“Any objections?” TFC asked and when no one replied, “we can get through this guys, I know we can.” He looked over to the convex who looked ready to move. “let’s go through the nether.”

***

After TFC had finished his speech, everyone agreed on staying at Grian’s base, and most of the hermits started making their way through the portal. Bdubs had walked away from the rest of the group and towards Keralis. He squatted down, about to say something along the lines of, hey, we need to get going to Grian’s base, when his eyes met the helmet that Keralis was holding. Immediately it really hit him. Sure he had seen the alert, and sure he had flown to the cords and started going through the chests. He had been crying while going through the stuff but, it hadn’t really set in until now. Now he was seeing his friend clutching on to his other friend’s helmet because it’s wearer was dead. Dead, actually permanently dead. He collapsed in loud sobs.

***

It had been really hard to get everyone back to the mansion as it had been decided that they would travel through the nether as very few hermits were fit for flight. It had been mid afternoon when they had entered the portal and the sun was setting when they re-entered the overworld. It had taken a while because even though the nether made their way through the small nether tunnels all huddled together to keep themselves propped up. It would be a funny sight if you were to stumble upon it not knowing the horrid circumstances. Some of the stronger hermits practically carried those who we’re too entranced in their mourning to really walk. Eventually they reached Grian’s portal and slowly streamed through it.  
The living room was grand, with large, comfortable couches and armchairs. On one wall there was a large fireplace and on the other, some windows. There was also a large kitchen that was divided from the main room by a counter with stools against it, Grian informed the others that another hallway across the room led to bedrooms and bathroom. He also pointed out some other key areas of the house and directed on how to get there. The hermits nodded and moved to the chairs to sit. The house was eerily quiet.

***

Cub sat on the kitchen counter as Scar finished preparing a small meal and some drinks for the night. “I think we’re terrible people,” he said, kicking his legs and staring at his folded hands.  
Scar didn’t look up from the tea, coffee and hot cocoa and continued to put them on trays. “Who’s terrible? what do you mean?”  
Cub sighed again. “I’m talking about us, it just seems like everyone else is unable to think about anything but him but- We’re here just talking and cooking, hell! I haven’t even cried!”  
“We’re not terrible people, we’re helping the others. We’re making them food and warm drinks, and talking to keep our minds from spiraling into depression.” Scar finished plating and pulled himself up on the counter next to Cub “I haven’t cried either. I just feel kinda numb so I’m putting my energy into helping because if I just stand or sit around I start feeling sick.”  
“Yeah, sure, but I don’t feel particularly sad, or numb.” He studied the ceiling for a good while before continuing. “Maybe, I guess the best way to describe how I feel is confused. It’s like my brain still can’t figure out what happened and what it means for the rest of us.”  
Scar squeezed Cub's hand, “and that’s ok.” He jumped off the counter. “Let’s go pass out the food.”  
They ended up only passing out a few drinks and pieces of bread, putting the rest into a chest. Most of the hermits were asleep, even though it wasn’t that late. None of the hermits had actually gone to a bedroom, they had instead fallen asleep on couches, chairs, and even the floor, cuddled together, too emotionally drained from the day’s events to care. Those who hadn’t fallen asleep were zoned out, eating and drinking, or reading, too many thoughts running through their heads to sleep. At one point in the night someone turned off the lights and some time later everyone was asleep. No one could say they slept particularly well when morning came.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was kinda a hard chapter to write. I think It feels a bit like filler but I needed a way to get everyone from X's base to Grian's. Next chapter is already mostly written though so that should be out soon. Thank you for reading, please leave a comment about what you think of this chapter or where you think the story will go ;) Ps, I know a lot of authors write Scar as this really emotional guy who cries at everything, but it's my headcanon that it actually take a lot for him to actually cry. He's very caring but he's trained himself to not show many negative emotions.


	3. So We Grieve

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The hermits grieve the day after Xisuma dies

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I’m so sorry this is so late I promise I’ll get the next one out sooner. Anyway I’m really happy with this chapter and I got a beta, they don’t have an ao3 account but they really helped me out! I hope you enjoy this chapter!

Morning eventually came as it always does and so started the first full day without Xisuma. 

***

Mumbo woke up before his couchmates and carefully stood up, careful not to disturb his friends. He looked at them for a second, Grian was sleeping almost peacefully in between where Mumbo was and Iskall is. He was curled up in a small ball. Next to him, Iskall slept considerably more spread out, his arm on the back of the couch and his head resting on his other arm, snoring softly.  
Mumbo walked away from them, and after looking around confused for a moment found the bathroom. He flipped on the lights and flinched in surprise when he saw himself in the mirror. There were large bags under his eyes and his mustache was unkempt. He was no longer wearing his suit jacket and the dress shirt under it was wrinkled and his tie was hanging loosely around his neck. He took off the tie first before splashing his face with water and at least shaping the mustache into a coherent shape. He left the bathroom and went to the kitchen.  
“Dude, you look like shit.” Cleo passed him a cup of tea and sat down next to him at a stool.   
“Don’t we all.” He sighed, taking a long sip.  
“You got that right.” Cleo replied sipping his drink.  
“”I mean look at us. It's already 10 and there's only-” Mumbo looked around the room, Joe sat at a small table scribbling something into a book, and TFC was sitting in an armchair reading the admin book. “It's only us, Joe, and TFC.”   
“You're wrong actually. False got up early and went outside to spar or something, and Hypno is around here somewhere.” Cleo informed him.  
Mumbo nodded and looked around the room again.  
The other hermits were still asleep but on a side table something stood out. “That’s Xisuma’s helmet!”  
“Yeah?” She asked.  
“Keralis isn’t holding it,” he turned back around to drink more tea, “I just wasn’t expecting that.”  
“TFC said he dropped it during the night,” she folded her arms on the table and looked at the ceiling. “We’ll give it to him when he wakes up.”  
“Alright,” Mumbo set his mug aside and rested his head on his arm. “Alright.”

***

All of the hermits eventually all woke up although some hadn’t left the couches and many of them hadn’t eaten much. They talked quietly and Sometimes they would get up and walk to the kitchen, bathrooms or around the house.

***

Doc wandered around the house, feeling heavy and angry, having to get away from the people mourning in the living room. The living room, he thought. All the hermits were camped out in the living room, occasionally moving to the kitchen or bedrooms and bathrooms closest to the main space. They were in the living room, the living room and they were mourning a death.   
Realizing how stupid that thought was Doc paused and puched the wall next to him and thought aloud. “Why I’m I thinking about the damn living room right now,” he punched the wall again, “what will I think of next? That we’re in the living room but none of us are really living?” the block broke into countless pieces and Doc could see that It was starting to rain now. He started to head back to tell Grian about the wall and to stay in the room he had thought so much about.

***

The rain started, Ren got up to go to the largest window, just to watch it. Knowing that there was a large section of windows complete with a window seat he made his way over there. Ren was a couple hallways away from the main room when he accidentally placed a block. A simple dirt block he had forgotten was still in his inventory. He grunted and starting to break the block with his fist. In a moment it broke but at the same time, something else happened. “What?” He placed and broke the block again, and again, and again. There was no doubt, it was that glitch. The simple, unfixable glitch of the rain coming indoors for a moment before disappearing when a block was broken during a storm. Ren’s soul broke. It was the first glitch he’d seen since X, and even though X couldn’t have fixed it. It was still a glitch, and it reminded Ren that more glitches and waves of lag would come, and that Xisuma couldn’t fix them. Xisuma couldn’t fix anything anymore. It hit him suddenly and painfully that he was gone. Xisuma had died, only really leaving behind a helmet. A helmet that Keralis wouldn’t let go of. Ren stumbled for a second and decided to sit down so he wouldn't fall. Looking at the ground Ren’s eyesight became blurry and he hiccuped, tears starting to fall to the wooden floor.

***

“Tango! Get over here!” Impulse called, sitting at the counter that divided the kitchen from the living room. “You're familiar with the Netherfolk right?”  
“Last time I checked, yes. I am, or at least I used to be.” Tango answered, making his way to and then sitting at the counter.  
“Ok, do you know if they have any rituals they did after someone died?”  
“Why are you asking him this?” Zedaph mumbled, barely lifting his head from its resting place of the counter.  
“Just- just wait for a second. Tango?” Impulse pressed on, slightly annoyed.  
“I’m trying to remember, I left the nether when I was really young-“ his eyes lit up in remembrance. “Oh yeah! I remember now!”  
“What? What do you remember?” Impulse asked sitting up straighter.  
“The Netherfolk would line up each holding one of the person's objects, and they would throw them into lava.”  
Impulse nodded and muttered something to himself.  
“What’s this about? Impulse, why are you asking this?” Zedaph asked again, still not really moving his head.  
“Well you know how Xisuma is Endfolk. I just thought that, maybe, if the Netherfolk have special rituals, the Endfolk might have had similar ones.” Impulse shrugged and swirled around the drink in his glass.  
Iskall, who had been cooking up some pork chops in the kitchen walked over to the guys at the counter. “If you're even suggesting that we throw Xisuma’s stuff into the void I’ll-“ he stopped when stress suddenly appeared behind him putting a hand on his shoulder. “We’re- we can't just throw his stuff into the void.” Iskall protested after a second.  
Stress piped up now, “Iskall’s right, we can’t just throw his stuff in the void.” She looked up at him and said, “We can't really do anything right now except research Endfolk and see if we can find any information.”  
“Where do we even find information on the Endfolk? I mean we can’t just ask one, Xisuma was like the last one.” Impulse commented.  
“No, you're wrong.” Zedaph said suddenly, lifting his head up to look at the others. “Xisuma wasn’t the last of the Endfolk. There’s one more.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Who could be the last of the Endfolk? Take your guesses in the comments ;)


	4. So we Greive

Mourning eventually came as it always does and so started the first full day without Xisuma. 

Mumbo woke up before his couchmates and carefully stood up, careful not to disturb his friends. He looked at them for a second, Grian was sleeping almost peacefully in between where Mumbo was and Iskall is. He was curled up in a small ball. Next to him, Iskall slept considerably more spread out, resting one arm on the back of the couch and his head on his other, snoring softly.  
Mumbo walked away from them, and after looking around confused for a moment found the bathroom. He flipped on the lights and flinched in surprise when he saw himself in the mirror. There were large bags under his eyes and his mustache was unkempt. He was no longer wearing his suit jacket and the dress shirt under it was wrinkled and his tie was hanging loosely around his neck. He took off the tie first, before splashing his face with water and at least shaping the mustache into a coherent shape. He left the bathroom and went to the kitchen.  
“Dude, you look like shit.” Vintage Beef said, passed him a cup of tea and sat down next to him at a stool.  
“Don’t we all.” Mumbo sighed, taking a long sip.  
“You got that right.” Beef replied sipping his drink.  
“”I mean look at us. It's already 10 and there's only-” Mumbo looked around the room, Joe sat at a small table scribbling something into a book, and TFC was sitting in an armchair reading the admin book. “It's only us, Joe, and TFC.”  
“You're wrong actually. False got up early and went outside to spar or something, and Etho is around here somewhere.” Beef informed him.  
Mumbo nodded and looked around the room again. The other hermits were still asleep but on a side table something stood out. “That’s Xisuma’s helmet!”  
“Yeah?”  
“Keralis isn’t holding it,” He said, turning back around to drink more tea, “I just wasn’t expecting that.” He added softly.  
“TFC said he dropped it during the night,” Beef said, folding his arms on the table and looking at the ceiling. “We’ll give it to him when he wakes up.”  
“Alright,” Mumbo set his mug aside and rested his head on his arm. “Alright.”

All of the hermits eventually all woke up although some hadn’t left the couches and many of them hadn’t eaten much. They talked quietly and sometimes they would get up and walk to the kitchen, bathrooms or around the house.

Doc wandered around the house, feeling heavy and angry, having to get away from the people mourning in the living room. The living room, he thought. All the hermits were camped out in the living room, occasionally moving to the kitchen or bedrooms and bathrooms closest to the main space. They were in the living room, the living room and they were mourning a death.  
Realizing how stupid that thought was Doc paused and puched the wall next to him and thought aloud. “Why I’m I thinking about the damn living room right now,” he punched the wall again, “what will I think of next? That we’re in the living room but none of us are really living?” the block broke into countless pieces and Doc could see that It was starting to rain now. He started to head back to tell Grian about the wall and to stay in the room he had thought so much about.

When the rain started, (B) got up to go to the largest window, just to watch it. Knowing that there was a large section of windows complete with a window seat he made his way over there. (B) was a couple hallways away, when, absentmindedly he accidentally placed a block. A simple dirt block he had forgotten was still in his inventory. “Ugh!” He exclaimed, starting to break the block with his fist. In a moment it broke but at the same time, something else happened. “What?” He placed and broke the block again, and again, and again. There was no doubt, it was that glitch. The simple, unfixable glitch of the rain coming indoors for a moment before disappearing when a block was broken during a storm. Jevin felt his soul break. It was the first glitch he’d seen since X, and even though X couldn’t have fixed it. It was still a glitch, and it reminded Jevin that more glitches and waves of lag would come, and that Xisuma couldn’t fix them. Xisuma couldn’t fix anything anymore. It hit him suddenly and painfully that X was gone. Xisuma had died, only really leaving behind a helmet. A helmet that his best friend wouldn’t let go of. Jevin stumbled for a second realizing in his grief she was having a hard time keeping his form, and decided to get on the ground so he wouldn’t fall. Looking at the ground Jevin’s eyesight became blurry and he hiccuped, tears starting to fall to the wooden floor.

“Tango! Get over here!?” Impulse called, sitting at the counter that divided the kitchen from the living room. “You're familiar with the Netherfolk right?”  
“Last time I checked, yes. I am, or at least I used to be.” Tango answered, making his way to and then sitting at the counter.  
“Ok, do you know if they have any rituals they did after someone died?”  
“Why are you asking him this,” Zedaph mumbled, barely lifting his head from its resting place of the counter.  
“Just- just wait for a second. Tango?” Impulse pressed on, slightly annoyed.  
“I’m trying to remember, I left the nether when I was really young-“ his eyes lit up in remembrance. “Oh yeah! I remember now!”  
“What? What do you remember?” Impulse asked sitting up straighter.  
“The Netherfolk would line up each holding one of the person's objects, and they would throw them into lava.”  
Impulse nodded and muttered something to himself.  
“What’s this about? Impulse, why are you asking this.” Zedaph asked again, still not really moving his head.  
“Well you know how Xisuma is endfolk. I just thought that, maybe, if the Netherfolk have special rituals, the Endfolk might have had similar ones.” Impulse shrugged and swirled around the drink in his glass.  
Keralis, who had been cooking up some pork chops in the kitchen, walked over to the guys at the counter. “If you're even suggesting that we throw Xisuma’s stuff into the void I’ll-“ he stopped when stress suddenly appeared behind him putting a hand on his shoulder. “We’re- we can't just throw his stuff into the void.” He l protested after a second.  
Stress piped up now, “Keralis is right, we can’t just throw his stuff in the void.” She looked up at him and said, “We can't really do anything right now except research Endfolk and see if we can find any information.”  
“What if we can’t?” Zedaph added.  
“I don’t know.” Stress sighed, returning to cooking

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hey, sorry I abandoned this like 6 months ago. I kinda lost interest in the story, and I had pressured myself to make every chapter at least a thousand words. Then tonight I saw that someone had given it a kudos, and I came back to realize I had gotten over 600 hits! I quickly finished up a chapter, and I know it's shorter than the rest but it's all I can give right now. If anyone's reading this after my hiatus thanks for jumping back in and if you're just now finding this now, welcome aboard! I'm not sure if I'll continue but now that I feel comfortable publishing shorter chapters I might get back into it. Thanks for hanging in there guys!

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading this far! There’s definitely more to come and it should be soon! Kudos are great but comments make my day!


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